American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 181 August 2014 | Page 13

Eleven years ago, when a customer inquired at the
H-D dealership owned by Gary Chipp’s father
whether a fat tire could be fitted to his Bagger, he gave
Gary the idea that would lead to him forming Fat Baggers Inc.
the following year. Now the company is celebrating its 10th anniversary
with ambitious European expansion plans

Phil Day, the former owner of Daytec, is now the
Production Manager at FBI and oversees the
construction of the frames used in the Razorback bikes

S Fat Baggers Inc. is
celebrating its 10th year in
business it is beginning
ambitious expansion plans
that will see not only its line
off custom parts made more available
in Europe, but also its line of new
motorcycles, built under the FBI Motor
Company banner sold as Fat Baggers
Europe, opens a subsidiary in Växjö,
Sweden.
The visionary behind the success of FBI,
which began before custom Baggers
became mainstream, is Gary Chipp who
began his life in the motorcycle trade
working out of his father’s Harley
dealership, where his determination to

A

www.AMDchampionship.com

The Razorback Trike is one of four
production models available from
FBI Motor Company

succeed was soon evident as he made the
role of service manager aged just 22.
It was during his time working at his
father’s dealership that Gary received a
request that would ultimately lead on to
him establishing Fat Baggers Inc., when a
customer asked Gary if it would be possible
to get a 240 rear tire fitted to his Road
Glide to match the tire he had in his Arlen
Ness built chop. “I wasn’t sure if it was
possible, so I called Arlen and all the other
leading builders I could think of, asking if
they could do it,” says Gary about that first
potential fat tire Bagger conversion. “The
customer had an open checkbook and
wanted to be the first person to have a fat
tire Bagger, but everyone told me it was

Gary Chipp is the founder of
Fat Baggers Inc. and runs the
business with his wife Amy

impossible.” Like so many custom bike
builders, Gary was unwilling to be told that
something is impossible, and so he decided
to see what he could do, even though his
own father told him it couldn’t be done. He
was soon to prove everyone wrong and had
the fat conversion done in time to take the
bike to Daytona Bike Week in 2003.
Among the interested parties who saw the
Bagger that Gary had done the fat tire
conversion on was Howard Kelly, who was
at that time the Editor of Hot Bike
magazine. He was impressed enough with
what he saw to immediately arrange a
photo shoot the following day. A few
months later the magazine feature
appeared with the bike dubbed a ‘Fat

AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - AUGUST 2014

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